ABSTRACT
The dearth of an overarching African regional environmental right treaty to provide a clear normative compass on the content, conditions, and procedures for environmental procedural rights seem to prevent efforts to drive environmental democracy and sustainability in the region. Through doctrinal research, we attempt to determine whether there is a need for Africa to adopt a regional environmental rights treaty and, if so, what such a new treaty could add to Africa’s environmental governance sphere. We further attempt to determine whether the African region should join the Aarhus Convention in accordance with article 19(3) of the Convention. The fundamental inquiry is whether either of these options is feasible in the short or long-term or even desirable.
This inquiry evolved due to Guinea-Bissau’s recent accession to the Aarhus Convention and the provision of article 13 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. In considering both options, we suggest that rather than undergoing the technical hurdles and time-consuming process of developing and adopting a regional environmental rights treaty, Africa should consider joining the Aarhus Convention either as individual states or en bloc. Our proposition is premised on the fact that such adhesion will help strengthen existing procedural deficiencies in the African Charter and the Maputo Convention; promote environmental democracy; enable individuals and NGOs to defend their right to a healthy environment, especially in countries without a constitutional right to the environment, and help the African region address the fundamental problem of enforcement and compliance, which would help chart a suitable trajectory for the pursuit of sustainability in Africa.
